Standard & Poors

Investors, worried about unemployment numbers, became increasingly bearish on retail ETF options.  Volume on SPDR S&P Retail Trust (XRT: Quote, Profile, Advanced Chart, News) options grew as investors expressed concern over consumer spending during a worsening employment climate. Volume on May $20 strike options soared to 75,000 contracts, nearly twice the daily average of 40,000 [...]

Stocks ended the first quarter on a high note, with March recording the best rally in the US markets since 2003′s tech bubble end. Investors remain cautiously optimistic, with Mike Ryan from UBS saying, “In March, it wasn’t that things got materially better, they just got less worse.” All major market ETFs, including DIAMONDS Trust [...]

After two full weeks of strong rallies on Wall Street, gold and fixed income ETFs still remain the most popular financial instruments. Increased demand for gold and fixed income has driven up exchange-traded fund volume across the board, bumping ETF shares to 38% of all total volume on Wall Street, compared to 25% in 2008. [...]

An interesting new commodity is gaining popularity among exchange-traded funds: water. Publicly owned water companies are becoming the new standard for many municipalities, and they are dripping decent returns for investors. The global water industry is one that keeps producing profits despite the recession, with expected growth of 4-5% in 2009 from $360 billion to [...]

February’s durable goods numbers surprised Wall Street and continued to fuel the rally that began more than two weeks ago. The durable goods numbers follow impressive housing starts and existing home sales data, which have all fed a recent buying spree in equities. Durable goods orders are very important for forecasting future economic trends; the [...]

A recent surge in February home sales was enough for some traders to quickly take call option profits on homebuilder ETFs. 40,000 call options at the June strike price of $12 were sold on SPDR S&P Homebuilders Trust ETF (XHB: Quote, Profile, Advanced Chart, News), which surged 15% from the lows set in early March. [...]

Positive economic reports magnetized investors to move back into utilities ETFs, signified by large option volume taking place. Investors expect that improving economic conditions will revitalize the utility industry, which has seen decreases in energy consumption as factories and businesses shut off the lights. An unknown investor made a bullish bet on the Utilities Select [...]

Retail sales numbers for the month of February encouraged investors to believe that economic fundamentals are making a rebound. While the market expected a 0.5% contraction in retail sales, the numbers reported were better, ringing in at a -0.1% growth rate. Bloomberg reports that retail sales have plummeted at the fastest rate in three decades; [...]

Standard & Poor’s will be launching a new index to track the returns of low carbon emission companies listed in the S&P 500 index – which foreshadows the launch of new ETFs that will track the greener indexes. The new index is the first of many geared towards providing investors a greater selection of “green” [...]

Dividend investors are continuing to beat the market’s performance, even as many top stocks are cutting back their dividend payments to improve balance sheets. 2008 proved to be the worst year for dividend reductions, with nearly $16 billion worth of dividend payments rescinded in the last quarter alone. Nonetheless, research from Ned Davis Research Co. [...]